The Central Coast Mariners will head into Sunday’s Pre-Season Cup match against Queensland with just 14 players to choose from.
Dean Heffernan, Mile Jedinak, Paul O’Grady and Greg Owens will miss the clash through injury, Andrew Clark is suspended, while Matt Simon has flown to Beijing as an additional play for the under 23s pre-Olympic Games tour of Asia.
Despite the lack of player availability, Mariners football manager Lawrie McKinna is confident his team will provide a strong showing.
“Queensland will have players missing, the same as we do so no matter what team they put on the park, Frank Farina will want to win the game,” McKinna said.
“Seemingly they were the better team against Sydney two weeks ago and seemingly they had a good first half last week.”
“Their boys are all fighting for spots in the starting round and it’s going to be a fierce game and we’re looking forward to it.”
The Mariners 3-0 victory over Sydney FC last week has paved the way for last season’s A-League Premiers to playoff for a place in the Pre-Season Cup final.
Wellington currently leads Group B with four points, while the Mariners and Sydney FC have three points, with the Roar languishing at the bottom of the table with one point.
Providing Sydney FC can defeat or draw with Wellington on Saturday, a Central Coast victory against Queensland will ensure the Mariners will progress to their third Pre-Season Cup final and McKinna is looking forward to the challenge.
“After we got beat in Wellington we thought that we would get the players through the next few weeks and get ready for the first Hyundai A-League game, but the good result against Sydney has opened things up again,” McKinna said.
“The possibility of now qualifying for the final puts a nice edge on the game, but it’ll be a hard game as they always are against Queensland.”
